marcus
I want it all give me everything that you got
Marcus watched her try to make herself taller, as if sheer determination could undo the fact that she was very clearly running on fumes. The stubborn set of her shoulders, the way she lifted her chin like it was a challenge to the entire world, drew a quiet, reluctant laugh out of him. It wasn’t mocking. Though, he didn’t point out the obvious. Not this time.
Instead, his gaze drifted back to the Crimson Cataract, the river suspended in the air above them. Marcus shifted his weight, rolling his shoulders again. “You don’t have to prove everything all the time,” he said after a moment, voice light, but without his earier sarcasm. His eyes flicked toward her. “Especially not to me.” The red glow of the river caught on her hair when she moved, turning the strands into something almost unreal for a moment. Marcus found himself watching it a second longer than necessary before forcing his attention back to the river.
When she looked like that, all bright-eyed even when she was clearly exhausted, still ready to charge headfirst into another impossible challenge, it was difficult not to feel something loosen in his chest. Impossible to hide the heat and color in his ears and cheeks. He crouched near the edge of the clearing, picking up a small stone and turning it between his fingers before flicking his wrist to see if he could skip the stone on the impossible river.
Instead, his gaze drifted back to the Crimson Cataract, the river suspended in the air above them. Marcus shifted his weight, rolling his shoulders again. “You don’t have to prove everything all the time,” he said after a moment, voice light, but without his earier sarcasm. His eyes flicked toward her. “Especially not to me.” The red glow of the river caught on her hair when she moved, turning the strands into something almost unreal for a moment. Marcus found himself watching it a second longer than necessary before forcing his attention back to the river.
When she looked like that, all bright-eyed even when she was clearly exhausted, still ready to charge headfirst into another impossible challenge, it was difficult not to feel something loosen in his chest. Impossible to hide the heat and color in his ears and cheeks. He crouched near the edge of the clearing, picking up a small stone and turning it between his fingers before flicking his wrist to see if he could skip the stone on the impossible river.
The full transplant bleeding with a new heart
